Man Freed After Wrongly Jailed For 22 Years

New York (CNN) – After more than two decades behind
bars, David Ranta walked out of a Brooklyn courthouse Thursday afternoon
with an apology from a judge and one immediate wish: “Get the hell out
of here.”
Ranta had been convicted of second-degree murder in 1991 for killing a
rabbi during a botched diamond heist. But two decades later, a onetime
witness said he had been coached into identifying Ranta in a police
lineup — and after an investigation, prosecutors recommended that
Ranta’s conviction be tossed out.
“Mr. Ranta, to say that I’m sorry for what you have endured would be
an understatement and grossly inadequate, but I say it to you anyway,”
Judge Miriam Cyrulnik said during an emotional hearing that left even
the judge wiping her eyes.

Asked what he wanted to do now, Ranta told reporters at the
courthouse, “Get the hell out of here.” And with that, he walked out
with his lawyer, carrying a small mesh bag that held his belongings.
“Right now, I feel like I’m under water swimming,” he said. “This is overwhelming.”
Hours later, his lawyer told CNN that Ranta intends to file a federal
civil rights lawsuit against the city of New York and the New York
Police Department.
“My client had 23 years taken from him. It is a lifetime, it’s a
generation,” attorney Pierre Sussman said. “And if you look at those
before and after pictures, before he went in, and now that he’s out,
it’s a different person.”
For now, Ranta plans to relax and reconnect with his family, Sussman said